Abstract
On 5 October 1864 Emperor Napoleon III appointed Vincent Benedetti as his ambassador extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the king of Prussia.1 For the distinguished veteran it meant a return to the diplomatic corps from which he had resigned in 1862, after twenty-two years of service to his country. Benedetti was born in Bastia, on the island of Corsica, on 29 April 1817, the son of François Benedetti, the presiding judge of the court of criminal jurisdiction in Bastia. After completion of his secondary education, young Benedetti had left for metropolitan France to pursue legal studies, as his father and grandfather had done before him. In the family tradition he had matriculated at the University of Marseilles and completed his studies with success, obtaining his license in law.2
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References
Statement obtained in personal interview of Count Benedetti, grandson of the diplomat, Paris, 13 April 1955.
Statement by Count Benedetti, personal interview, Paris, 13 April 1955;
L. Trouvenel, Pages de l’histoire du Second Empire (Paris, 1903), p. 413, ft. 2
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R. Schnerb, Rouher et le Second Empire (Paris, 1949), pp. 127–128. Benedetti’s appointment to Turin, coupled with that of La Valette to Rome, caused Mérimée to write: “These two good Catholics… are the proper ones to persuade our Holy Father that his kingdom is no longer of this world” (Mérimée to Panizzi, Paris, 3 September 1861
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That is to say, as long as the Italian question is not taken up“ (Solvyns to Rogier, Paris, 12 October 1864, BAE CP, Italie/2 [2863–2865], no. 209).
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The French legation in Berlin was elevated to embassy status on 7 October 1864.
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See Benedetti to Drouyn de Lhuys, [Berlin,] 3o April 1865, ODG (Paris, 1910–1934), VI, 192
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Benedetti to Drouyn de Lhuys, Berlin, 23 November 1864, FAE CP, Prusse/350, no. 106.
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Fletcher, W.A. (1965). The Man and His Mission. In: The Mission of Vincent Benedetti to Berlin 1864–1870. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7547-8_1
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